4 Egyptian startups secure USD 125k seed funding

Four Egyptian startups secured USD 125k each in seed funding by US accelerator Y Combinator, Magnitt reports. The funding came either following the companies closing pre-seed rounds, or as boosters to companies that are looking to expand and complete acquisitions.

The startups: The Egyptian startups include Cairo-based delivery service ShipBlu, ins. marketplace Amenli, SaaS startup Pylon and online auto-marketplace Odiggo, which had secured USD 2.2 mn in seed financing from Y Combinator just last month. An additional two startups from Morocco, the B2B e-commerce platform for FMCG products, Chari, and supply-chain platform Freterium also received funding.

The funding came as part of Y Combinator’s second cycle of the year, which took place from June to August. The company runs two annual funding cycles over a period of three months, during which startup founders meet with partners and present their project to a group of investors. The seed accelerator company then takes small stakes in many of the startups. This year’s summer batch included 377 startups from 47 countries, with a record of 15 African companies.

Over the first half of the year Egyptian startups landed USD 194 mn in venture capital finance, which represented 26% of all MENA fundraising during the half. The 194 mn figure was led by a USD 42 mn contribution to Egyptian digital trucking platform Trella.